


Lies We Had to Tell

by MildlyRebelliousMint



Category: DCU (Comics), New Teen Titans
Genre: (because I am also a liar suck it redwritinghood), (it's like vaguely referenced but gotta be safe), Alternate Universe - Soulmates, F/M, Implied/Referenced Abuse, Past Sexual Abuse, Tenderness
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,469
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23159389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MildlyRebelliousMint/pseuds/MildlyRebelliousMint
Summary: Every time your soulmate lies, it is tattooed on your skin. Koriand'r has an impressive collection of soulmarks.
Relationships: Dick Grayson/Koriand'r
Comments: 20
Kudos: 147





	Lies We Had to Tell

**Author's Note:**

> It doesn't really come up, but repeated lies don't appear, even if they're phrased differently. You wouldn't even be able to see Kory's skin otherwise.
> 
> I did reference the first Volume of NTT while working on this, but I'm also Jared, 19, so all we can do is pray for accuracy.
> 
> Thanks to RedWritingHood for helping me with beta! I'm sorry I wasn't able to make the fourth sentence not shitty.

Princess Koriand'r of Tamaran has more lies written on her skin than most Tamaranean children her age. It worries her a little, but her parents tell her that not all cultures are as open as the one on Tamaran. It doesn’t mean her soulmate is bad. Even though her parents can’t read the foreign words, they say the small words mean the lies are insignificant.

Even so, Komand'r sneers and tells Koriand’r she isn’t such a perfect little princess after all. Not when her soulmate is such a  _ liar _ . 

She doesn’t believe her soulmate could be so terrible, though.

It isn’t until after she is sent to Okaara that she starts to think Komand’r might be right. She gains new marks everyday, growing in size. Sometimes she stares at her reflection in the water and wonders at how wicked her soulmate must be, to tell so many lies. 

Then Komand’r betrays their home. Her parents trade her to the Gordanians because they must. She learns that cruelty creates necessity. Sometimes you must lie to survive. Yet she believes there is hope for her and her soulmate, as long as she keeps fighting to escape. She looks forward to a future where lies are no longer needed.

* * *

She can’t remember much after escaping the Gordanians. Everything aches and the air is hot and suffocating. There are aliens, not the Gordanians, seeming to study her. They speak, but the words are gibberish. She can’t focus on where she is. Is she safe? She dreams of horrors that were once real to her. Of disgusting words and clawing touch. There’s shouting and dust and rumble and she dreams of war. 

Then she’s cold. She’s cold and there’s an alien carrying her. She doesn’t know if it’s safe, but it’s better than-

A Gordanian. 

Her power pulses, the normally comforting heat searing her veins, bursting and painful. The Gordanian cries out, crashing to the ground, and Koriand’r’s eyes slip closed.

* * *

She thinks these aliens are her allies. They helped her escape the Gordanians, but they fight amongst themselves after. The flying warrior woman, one of the aliens who saved her, stops her from choosing a side. She is kind enough to Koriand'r, but her eyes keep catching on her soulmarks. It’s understandable, she supposes. There are many.

* * *

The alien who had carried her to safety before tackles her to the ground. He starts to say something, then stops, eyes on her neck. Underneath his torn sleeve, she sees a soulmark in Gordanian: “I will do whatever you say.”

She knows every lie she’s ever told. She often thought about how they must have tarnished her soulmate’s skin.

She kisses him. He responds so  _ gently _ it makes her heart swell. It’s soft and sweet and everything she had hoped to one day possess. 

She pulls away to catch her breath. His eyes are wide and awed. His skin is matte and his eyes are a placid blue she’s never seen before. There’s something lovely about it: alien and yet calming. 

“Oh my God,” one of the other aliens says.

“I knew it,” another says, the warrior, she thinks.

She doesn’t take her eyes off her soulmate. She brushes her thumb against his cheek. “I promise you won’t have to lie to me.”

He blinks, eyes moist. “I- you speak English? I mean-”

“Yes,” she says, carefully, apprehension growing. “I can absorb language through physical contact.”

Someone whistles. 

There’s a clang and she turns her head to see the alien covered in metal has fished the robot from the water.

“If you two lovebirds are finished.”

“Rob just met his  _ soulmate _ . Give him a minute.”

“No, no,” her soulmate says, shaking his head, “We should… We should take care of this first.” 

He extracts himself, leaving her cold. 

She watches him walk to the robot, swallowing down a lump in her throat. 

“We should have something to trace with this. Thanks, Cyborg.”

* * *

The planet is called Earth and the people who rescued her consider themselves Earthlings. The green one, Garfield, brings them to a vast estate owned by his father. Inside, there is a spacious lounge with games and beverages she doesn’t recognize. He tells them to kick back and make themselves at home, then runs off to get snacks.

The warrior woman smiles at them and says she has some errands to run, before ducking out as well.

Her soulmate leans his weight on the back of a couch and chews on his lip. His eyes flick to her and then away again. “Uh, I guess we should talk about this?”

“Yes,” she agrees. She wants to so badly. What is he thinking?

“To be honest I, uh. I don’t know what to say.” He won’t look at her. “I wasn’t  _ expecting… _ ”

“You’re disappointed in me,” Koriand’r says. It is a new kind of misery, to fight and claw and crawl through dungeons of brutality and agony, only to find you cannot touch the light at the end.

He jerks his head up at her words. “What? No, that’s-” He runs a hand through his hair. “No, I didn’t mean that. I just…” He pinches his eyes shut and sighs. “I’m sorry. I’m terrible at this.”

She doesn’t understand how it could be so hard to speak to her. “Just tell me how you feel.”

“Wow, um.” He laughs, but it sounds desperate. “I’m terrible at that, too.”

It’s like he’s  _ scared _ to tell her. It seems a terrible thing, but also gives her hope. Maybe this isn’t rejection.

“What if I tell you how I feel?” she asks, taking a seat on the couch. “Then we will have a place to start.” 

“Yeah, okay.” He takes a seat beside her, some of the tension draining from his shoulders. “That would be good, I think.”

She’d read some of the marks on her arms when she’d gotten a chance. Things like  _ I haven’t seen him _ ,  _ I was hiding the whole time,  _ and  _ I forgot something. _ The one that strikes her is  _ I hate you  _ in large letters. She can’t fathom why anyone would tell such a lie.

“You tell so many strange lies,” she says, “I don’t know what to make of it.”

He nods, looking straight ahead. She hates it.

“I don’t believe you’re a bad person,” she adds, taking his hand

That makes him look at her, brows furrowed. “How could you know that?”

“You rescued me,” she reminds him. “You’re so  _ different _ from the people I loved on Tamaran. But you’re kind and gentle. I want to understand.”

“I…” He swallows. “The lying is…  _ Most _ of the lying is because I have to keep the mask - Robin - and my true identity - Dick Grayson - separate. I fight dangerous people as Robin. People who could threaten my home or the people I care about.”

_ Dick Grayson _ . She will hold his name close.

“Your people aren’t warriors?” she asks.

“No. Yours are?”

She nods. “We take pride in defending our home.” Or they had.

“That’s why you fight with such relish,” he mutters. He’s quiet for a moment, tracing the words ‘ _ I was at school _ ’ along her knuckles. “I’m sorry I covered you in them. That wasn’t fair.”

She stares at the words. She thinks she’s closer to understanding. “You told them to protect what you love?”

“Most of them.”

“Then I wear them proudly like battle scars.”

He searches her face. “I don’t think… I don’t think I deserve you.”

“I suspect you are wrong.”

This time, he kisses her.

* * *

She wakes up to Dick tracing along words on her collarbone,  _ Bruce isn’t my dad _ . He’s frowning and she knows he’s thinking too much again.

She fights back a yawn. The morning light is just streaming in their room. “What’s wrong, love?”

He sighs. “I didn’t even realize some of these were lies.”

“You don’t know who your father is?”

“I mean, Bruce took me in as his  _ ward _ . And… We never really talked about it, I guess.”

She nods. To her, feelings would always be more important than some technicality of circumstance. She still struggles to understand a culture that pushes its people to lie even to themselves. She takes comfort in knowing that his words to her have yet to appear on her skin.

He laughs, sort of humorless. “You know, you’re so unrestrained that it scares me sometimes. But then here I am, unable to even see what the truth looks like. We’re quite the pair, huh?”

She hums. “Maybe we are meant to teach each other. I’ve told you I could never judge you for how you feel.”

“Well, I feel-” He laughs again and there’s joy in it this time. “Kory, you’re beautiful, in every sense of the word.”

She feels light, like flying. “As are you, love.”

**Author's Note:**

> I know they originally went to the pool, but it seems like it would be a weird thing to do following such a revelation.
> 
> I didn't write dialogue for Gar because I can not even deal with the shit he says to Kory. You can imagine Gar made sleazy comments before Kory could understand him if you want.
> 
> I am always having my own personal discourse with Kory vs Kori. On one hand, "Kory" feels more like humanized version of her name than a shortened version, so it feels odd for her friends to call her that casually. On the other hand, "Kori" has a strong association with the messes Lobdell and Conner made (somehow opposite and yet equally terrible??). Ultimately, I settled on Kory for this fic because I felt it would be less jarring for fans of classic Starfire.  
> Yeah, it's literally in one line, but I had a lot of back and forth on it, okay?


End file.
